PARSIPPANY — About 20 seconds into Rickey Edwards’ fight Friday night, it seemed as though the junior welterweight from Paterson would make quick, easy work of Carlos Nieves.

Nieves, however, was tougher than his 0-5 record indicated and recovered from the early knockdown Edwards scored. The 19-year-old fighter from the Bronx then turned their four-round bout into mostly a dirty, ugly wrestling match.

Edwards, a Kennedy graduate and former New Jersey Golden Gloves champion, still was able to box effectively enough to win a unanimous decision as part of a 10-bout card at Parsippany PAL.

"I was waiting a lot. When I dropped him I should’ve gone back at him. I’m not really a brawler. I’m a boxer, so I was just trying to make sure I didn’t get caught with something. I wanted to get the knockout, but it didn’t happen and I just kept it smooth."

Referee Randy Neumann, a Ridgewood resident, had his hands full throughout the bout as he tried to separate Edwards and Nieves from awkward clinches. Nieves even attempted to knee Edwards in the face after tackling him to the canvas in the first round.

Later, Paterson’s Bienvenido Diaz stopped Newark’s Frank Jordan in the third round of a lightweight bout that marked the pro debut for both boxers. Neumann stopped it late in the third round.

A bout between John Magda (5-0, 4 KOs), a super middleweight from Rutherford, and Craig Schwallier (2-1, 2 KOs), of Grand Rapids, Mich., was canceled because Schwallier was not cleared medically by New Jersey’s State Athletic Control Board.